Police and Crime Commissioner Matt Storey has responded to the latest police funding settlement 💷💬
He said: “Despite facing consistently high levels of crime, I am beyond concerned to learn that Cleveland has been allocated the lowest funding increase of any police force in England and Wales.
“As it has for years, the flawed funding formula disadvantages our area based on its small population size – without any consideration of our significant social and economic problems, many of which are drivers of crime and victimisation.
“Whilst our funding increase falls roughly in line with inflation, our settlement falls a long way short of what we need. If there is no further funding from the Government coming down the pipeline, Cleveland Police will be left in an incredibly difficult financial situation.
“All I can hope is that as the Government seeks to reform policing nationwide, a key part of this work is to revise how police forces are funded, by instead focusing on need, crime rate and deprivation – none of which are currently considered.”
Provisional Police Settlement 2026-27